ForbesHealth insurance companies are hiring record numbers of nurses as the Affordable Care Act boosts the number of patients with medical coverage and plans look for ways to coordinate care of the newly insured.
At the nation’s largest health insurance company, UnitedHealth Group, more than 7,000 additional nurses have been added in the last 10 years. Meanwhile, Cigna , Humana and several Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans confirm nurse staffing is at an all-time high as health plans shift more payments away from traditional fee-for-service medicine that is based on volume and to value-based care that is tied to outcomes, performance and quality of care provided to patients.READ MORE

The 2015 Biennial Convention The Changing Landscape of Healthcare took place last Thursday and Friday. With 200 nurses across all spectrums of the profession, a strong and varied group of expert speakers, and the beautiful San Marcos Resort as our venue, this year’s Convention was an enormous success. Thank you to all who attended, served, taught, or in any way contributed to making this year’s Convention a wonderful event. Speaker presentations will become available throughout the week on the AzNA website — check back often! Save the date NOW for next year’s Symposium on Oct. 14 and don’t forget to register today for AzNA’s annual Lobby Day on Jan. 16, 2016!

Dreaming of a new opportunity? Wake up your RN career and join us at O.A.S.I.S. Hospital!O.A.S.I.S. Hospital, the Valley's Premier Orthopedic Hospital is seeking talented and caring RNs to join our world class team! Join the OR team or put your clinical skills to use in our PSU (Post Surgical Unit) on a Day or Night shift! These highly sought after opportunities provide autonomy, exceptional rates, a family setting, great schedules and PURE JOY!

On Sept. 21, 2015, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), in collaboration with over 35 federal partners released the updated Federal Health IT Strategic Plan 2015-2020.

The Federal Health IT Goals of the Plan are to (ONC, Page 9):

Advance Person-Centered and Self-Managed Health,

Transform Health Care Delivery and Community Health,

Foster Research, Scientific Knowledge and Innovation, and

Enhance the nation’s Health IT Infrastructure.

AzNA and ANA invite you to visit the website for National Health IT Week 2015 and explore the associated activities that are scheduled during the week of Oct. 5-9, 2015.

On Sept. 22, a Republican Candidate for President and a Democratic candidate for President reached the top of several polls at the same time. For the first time in history, those leading candidates were women. Read more about Carly Fiorina and Hillary Clinton.

Poor, young and hard-to-reach individuals will be targeted this year to sign up for insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Last week, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said that reaching this group is necessary to increase the numbers participating in the ACA. The third round of open enrollment begins Nov. 1. Nurses working with this population can learn more about ACA, AHCCCS and CHIPS on Arizona's Medicaid page.

The recent outpouring of support in the media for Miss Colorado, Kelley Johnson, has been tremendous. It has reminded us all how united nurses are and how respected they are. The support that nurses show for each other is unparalleled. Nurses House is running its 3rd annual “Build a Virtual House for Nurses in Need” campaign online from Oct. 1-31 to raise funds for nurses throughout the nation facing illness, injury or dire circumstance. Here is a sneak preview of the campaign, sponsored by Akesso, which will be live on the Nurses House homepage on Oct. 1 and shared on social media. This year, Nurses House has partnered with Akesso professional footwear. As an added incentive, Akesso will be rewarding the first 12 individuals who donate or raise $500 to Nurses House with a pair of their professional footwear!

Register on or before Sept. 30 and enjoy Early Registration discounts to attend the 27th Annual Arizona Geriatrics Society Fall Symposium — THE FUTURE OF GERIATRICS: A Person Centered Paradigm — scheduled Friday-Saturday, Oct. 30-31 at the Desert Willow Conference Center in Phoenix. For more information or to register, visit our website or call the AzGS office at
(602) 265-0211.

USA TodaySociety may be getting more politically correct, but there's new evidence that hasn't trickled down to hospital operating rooms.
A medical journal published an anonymous essay last month by a physician recounting other doctors' crude and sexual comments and behavior with patients during obstetric and gynecologic surgeries. That prompted five Pittsburgh doctors to respond that their residency program director's inbox was flooded with confessions of bad behavior after she asked everyone in the program to comment on the article. READ MORE

By Keith Carlson Most everyone has caught wind of the firestorm that erupted when Joy Behar of The View denigrated nurses by mocking a heartfelt monologue performed by a contestant during the Miss America pageant. A recent MultiBriefs Exclusive by Joan Spitrey, RN, adroitly encapsulates the situation, offering a balanced assessment of the reaction to Behar's faux pas. Some nurses have leveled negativity against The View, but many others have joined a widespread movement of positivity.READ MORE

HealthDay NewsObesity still plagues millions of Americans, as rates remain high in most states, a new report finds.
The South and Midwest have the highest adult obesity rates, making up 23 of the 25 states with rates now topping 30 percent. READ MORE

By Scott E. Rupp HIMSS Analytics recently published a new report, "Essentials Brief: Telemedicine Study" — a survey of health IT executives that finds an increase in the adoption of telemedicine solutions and services, from 54.5 percent in 2014 to 57.7 percent in 2015. Small, but sizable.
FierceHealthIT reports that the Web-based study included responses from nearly 270 executives, IT professionals, clinicians, department heads and ambulatory physicians. READ MORE

NPRGetting texts with motivating and informative messages led patients with coronary heart disease to make behavior changes like exercising more and smoking less, according to a study published Sept. 22 in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association. By the end of the six-month study, patients who had received the text messages had reduced their cholesterol, blood pressure and body mass index.
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HealthDay NewsA new mouse study suggests that a drug with a known safety record in humans might be a new weapon in the fight against the potentially deadly intestinal infection known as C. difficile. The drug is called ebselen, and it was well-tolerated in humans when tested as a possible treatment in a variety of clinical trials, including for stroke and bipolar disorder. Although ebselen has never been approved as a treatment for any condition in humans, the current research team thought the drug might help prevent the spread of infection in people with C. difficile.READ MORE

HealthDay NewsFor patients in intensive care units who need a catheter so they can receive medications easily, one placed in the vein under the collarbone appears to lower the risk of bloodstream infections and clots, a new study finds. The researchers reported that it lowered those risks by two to three times when compared to catheters placed in the large vein in the groin or in the jugular vein in the neck. The one drawback to inserting a catheter into the vein under the collarbone is the risk for causing a collapsed lung. This can occur if the catheter misses the vein and punctures a lung as it is inserted.READ MORE

HealioResearchers have observed an increase in antibiotic prescribing among nurse practitioners and physician assistants, particularly during the winter months. In addition, dentists now appear to be responsible for a large proportion of antibiotic prescribing in the United States.READ MORE

Nurse.comAfter a decade of nursing service in the EDs at two Columbus, Ohio, hospitals, Shalanda Perkins, MSNEd, RN, said she enjoyed it.
“I like the hustle and bustle,” Perkins said. “With a very rapid patient turnover, I like the challenge the patient population brings every day.” Now a full-time instructor at Chamberlain College of Nursing’s Columbus campus, Perkins began her nursing career as an LPN before earning her RN. However, Perkins said, the real breakthrough for her came the moment she stepped up to earn her BSN.READ MORE

Medical News TodayMore than 70 percent of people with sleep apnea experience symptoms of depression, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. Researchers say their findings indicate a possibility that the sleep condition could be misdiagnosed as depression. However, the study also finds depressive symptoms among sleep apnea patients can be relieved with the use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy.
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